Today, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Panalpina CEO Stefan Karlen officially opened the company’s new logistics manufacturing center in Dubai South. The 40,000 m2 facility will support circular supply chains and enable Panalpina to grow its logistics and freight forwarding business in the Middle East, Africa and CIS (MEAC) region.

Panalpina and Cardiff Business School have strengthened their partnership with the launch of a new Logistics Manufacturing Research Centre. The center will conduct leading research into the fields of distributed manufacturing, 3D printing, the circular economy and the impact of digital manufacturing on global supply chains. The new center has already secured its first research grant.

Dubai has become the latest location where Panalpina offers Logistics Manufacturing Services to its customers. Rather than holding stock to cover every possible outcome, Panalpina assembles products from semi-knocked down (SKD) units to specific customer requirements at the last possible stage before shipping them to the end customer.

Panalpina sees reverse logistics as a strategic area for growth. To complement its reverse logistics offering in the technology sector, Panalpina has entered into a strategic alliance with Hong Kong-based company Spread Logistics.